Doctoral Dissertation In Apa Style

Students must be registered in dissertation (or dissertation extension if they have already completed all regular dissertation sequence courses), during the term in which they achieve dissertation clearance. Dissertation clearance means not only successful defense, but completion of any required revisions and submission of the dissertation in its final form to the University library.

CONTACT ACADEMIC & ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT SERVICES for an informational meeting. Review any questions about your program's or university's requirements for completing the dissertation clearance process. Ensure you are meeting deadlines relevant to DEX and related fees.

FINAL ORALS: successfully complete the final orals for your dissertation and make all edits requested by your committee.

Note that ‘Section 1’ of the Library Dissertation/Doctoral Project Clearance Form’ must be signed by the dissertation/doctoral project committee and the Program Director after all final edits have been made and approved. Committee signatures on this form indicate that the student has successfully defended the dissertation and that the final written dissertation/doctoral project as submitted to the library is acceptable in content and format. The Program Director signature indicates that the student has successfully completed all program requirements related to the dissertation (e.g., submitted departmental forms or any supplemental documentation the program requires for the dissertation/doctoral project).

CONTACT THE LIBRARY: Phone or send an email to the person listed under "Who to Contact" on the right side of this page to schedule a preclearance meeting. Schedule this appointment at least seven business days in advance. When you meet with the dissertation clearance representative, bring the following two items:

SUBMIT: After this meeting, you can then upload an electronic (pdf) copy of the manuscript to ProQuest. See "Submitting to ProQuest ETD" tab above.

a) As soon as you upload, library staff is notified that your dissertation is ready for review. This review does not include proofreading.

b) Within three business days of your submission, you will receive e-mail notification of revisions you need to make, if necessary. Make the changes and re-upload. Repeat until all necessary revisions have been made and the library approves the format.

c) If this three-day period must be extended due to unusual circumstances, the DCR will notify the student about when he or she can expect feedback.

d) The student repeats this process until the document is acceptable. Allow three business days for review of any revised, reuploaded version of the manuscript. The time frame for completing the entire clearance process will vary depending on the time of year (e.g., allow more time as graduation or other due dates approach), the extensiveness of problems, responsiveness of the student to initial feedback, etc.

ACCEPTANCE! Once the manuscript has been accepted, The DCR officially verifies that the electronic version has been uploaded to ProQuest and cleared. Library DCR completes ‘Section 3’ of the Library Dissertation/Doctoral Clearance Form and sends the form to the Registrar, retains a copy, and e-mails a copy to the student, the dissertation chair, the Academic Affairs Staff member associated with the Program, and the student’s Program Director..

PUBLICATION! The Library DCR approves and delivers the electronic copy of manuscript to UMI/ProQuest.

How to Cite A Dissertation

1) Are dissertations published or unpublished – and how can I tell the difference?

2) How should I cite a dissertation or thesis published by ProQuest/UMI?

3) CIIS citation formats – APA, MLA, Chicago, AAA

1) Are dissertations published or unpublished – and how can I tell the difference?

The majority of dissertations done at institutions in the United States and Canada – including CIIS – and some dissertations from institutions in other countries are published through ProQuest/UMI.

The way to tell whether the work in question is published is to search their database, called ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (Members of the CIIS community can access it through our library Web site). If you find a record for the work in question, assume that it is published unless that record lists only an abstract (i.e., there’s no full text available and/or no link to order a copy). If you do not see it listed in this database, but know it was from a school in the United States, check with a reference librarian by sending an e-mail to askref [at] ciis [dot] edu.

If the dissertation is from an institution in another country, and not listed in ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, see if you can find it through one of the other dissertation links on the CIIS Library Research Resources page.

2) How should I cite a dissertation or thesis published by ProQuest/UMI?

Follow the format specified in the most recent edition of the style manual you choose; and – if it is not already required by that style – include the ProQuest/UMI publication number in the References citation. Publication numbers are akin to the standard identification numbers for books (ISBNs), and will make it easier for future researchers using your work to unambiguously identify the work you are citing.

How can you find the publication number? Search for the item in ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (available via the CIIS Library website). You will find it in the citation; publication numbers usually begin with the letters AAT, with several numbers following, as in these two examples:

I ain't fattening frogs for snakes: An inquiry into the application of creativity research to teaching practice by Crowe, Byron Dan, Ph.D., California Institute of Integral Studies, 2010, 145 pages; AAT 3411606

Crowe, B. D. (2010). I ain't fattening frogs for snakes: An inquiry into the application of creativity research to teaching practice (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. (Accession Order No. AAT 3411606)